LEARN HOW TO CREATE CHARACTERS AND ENVIRONMENTS

An environment created by leading environment designer Bill Perkins, who along with leading character designer Stephen Silver, will give a presentation at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 4 p.m.

(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) – Bill Perkins and Stephen Silver, two leading designers of the entertainment industry, will give presentations 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009 at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire.

“These two are at the top of the business,” said Santsosh Oommen, academic director for Animation & Media Arts and Game Art & Design. “Their presentations will familiarize current and potential students with the best works in character and environment design.”

The presentations are open to the public and free of charge. Those who wish to attend these presentations should RSVP by calling The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire by calling (909) 915-2100 or (800) 353-0812.

Perkins has worked as a concept artist, production designer, layout artist, art director and storyboard artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Industrial Light & Magic, and 9th Ray Studios.

His film credits include The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Fantasia 2000, Space Jam, Shrek, and the upcoming John Carter and the Princess of Mars and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

In 2001 he formed High Street Studio as a preproduction and design studio for films, television and the gaming industry.

Silver, who is just 36, has been drawing professionally since he was 20 and founded his caricature and animation business, Silvertoons. He has done work for the clothing company “No Fear,” and for Warner Brothers studio, which got him started in the field of character animation more than a decade ago. He is also a gifted lecturer, and has earned rave reviews from universities where he previously gave presentations.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion Design and Retail Management, and Media Arts & Animation. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.

It’s not too late to start the new year at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. Courses begin Jan. 12 and classes are offered in the day, evening and on weekends for new and reentry students.

For more information or a tour, call The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire at (909) 915-2100 or (800) 353-0812.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), with more than 40 educational institutions located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.


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Art Institute Grads to Display Portfolios

Rachel Makowski, shown here with a gold award she received earlier this year in the American Advertising Federation’s ADDY competition, has completed her bachelor’s degree at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. She is one of nine students who earn their degrees at The Art Institute this month. All will showcase their work in a Graduate Portfolio Review to be held Thursday, Dec. 18 at The Art Institute.


(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire will host its first Graduate Portfolio Exhibit on Thursday, Dec. 18.

“This is an opportunity for our nine students who are graduating this quarter to showcase their work, especially to employers, but also to friends and family,” said Cindy Jones, Director of Career Services for The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire.

Employers looking for talented, newly graduated professionals in the fields of Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media and Culinary Arts are invited to attend this reception from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 630 E. Brier Drive in San Bernardino. They’re asked to RSVP with Brenda Medina at (909) 915-2192.

From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the party continues its focus on the graduates, but with a different emphasis. The guests joining them during this portion of the event will be their own friends and family.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire will serve hors d’ouvres and beverages. Ronnell Lawson and Roberto Vazquez Pulido, who are the first two students to obtain Culinary Arts degrees from the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire, will create some of these hors d’ouvres as samples of their work.

The International Culinary School opened in January 2007, a year after the first programs began at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. Lawson and Vazquez Pulido earned their associate degrees in less than two years, in part by taking advantage of a year-round schedule their school offers.

Raymond Heredia, the first graduate of The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire’s Web Design & Interactive Media program, will have Web sites he has created on display. He will receive a bachelor’s degree, having also taken advantage of the year-round schedule to complete his education in less than three years.

All Graphic Design students maintain portfolios of the work they’ve done while at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. These portfolios are now complete for Raysa Cerna, Anthony Guevara and Rachel Makowski, who are receiving the program’s first bachelor’s degrees and for Regina Cortez, Elizabeth Horn, and Salvador Vazquez Jr., who are receiving associate degrees.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is holding this event for the first time because this is the first quarter the three-year-old campus has had multiple graduates. Plans are already underway for the Graduate Portfolio Review to become a quarterly tradition in 2009. Similar events are planned in March, June, September and December of next year.

“We anticipate 20 to 23 graduates for the winter quarter, which ends in March,” Jones said. “Our numbers of graduates are growing and could reach more than 100 per quarter a year from now.”

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion Marketing & Retail Management, and Media Arts & Animation and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Fashion Design. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.

It’s not too late to start the new year at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. Courses begin Jan. 12 and classes are offered in the day, evening and on weekends for new and reentry students.

For more information or a free tour of The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire call (909) 915-2100 or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), with more than 40 educational institutions located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.

Culinary Students Bring Smiles To Hospital's Kids

A young patient at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, her father and a culinary arts student from the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire work together on a gingerbread house construction project. Behind them is an entire gingerbread village, where the children’s work remains on display throughout this month. Photo by Carl Dameron.

(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Seriously ill boys and girls at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital received a welcome break from their usual hospital routines Monday, Dec. 1 when students from the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire came bearing gingerbread houses for them to decorate.

The students and their leader, Executive Chef Eyad Joseph, academic director of the International Culinary School, had just as much fun decorating as the children. For them, the opportunity to help younger people who are in great need of Christmas cheer was heartwarming and unforgettable.

“It really touched me,” said Rosanna Saldena. “They were so surprised we were doing this. Interacting with them was a good experience.”

The children usually spend most of the day in their hospital rooms, and often get bored with this, she noted. “The ones I was working with asked me if they would get to do something like this again the next day,” she said. “They would have been happy to have worked on gingerbread houses five days in a row.”

This is the second year Nina Mendiola went with her fellow International Culinary School students to Loma Linda Children’s Hospital to help children decorate gingerbread houses.

“The first time I went, I had a really good experience,” she said. “I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to do it again, and this time I met some new children whose stories touched me.”

The students spent most of the day with about 40 young patients and their parents, helping them to decorate houses. Another 40 patients who are in isolation, and could not risk coming into contact with visitors, decorated gingerbread houses in their own rooms.

Before going to Loma Linda, the students bought about 100 gingerbread houses. A volunteer organization, the Big Hearts for Little Hearts Guild, brought the candy and frosting used as decorations and “cement.”

“The Big Hearts for Little Hearts Guild is so happy that the International Culinary School has partnered with us for the Gingerbread Village this year. We have been doing it for nine years and it is such a blessing to see the patients smile when they finish their houses. We hope to partner with the culinary school in the future,” said Guild President Eloise Habekost.

As the patients finished decorating their houses volunteers placed them in a Christmas village set up by Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, a.ka. volunteers Jim and Jeannie Durbin. They will stay there for public display through the middle of January.

“Hundreds of people enjoy the whimsical village,” Habekost said.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion Marketing & Retail Management, and Media Arts & Animation and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Fashion Design. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.

It’s not too late to start classes at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. Courses begin Jan. 12 and classes are offered in the day, evening and on weekends for new and reentry students.

For more information or a free tour of The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire call (909) 915-2100 or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.